Individual Project

This page will document the work I’m doing on my individual Project whereas the normal page is for the larger VM420 Classwork.

In terms of theme, I’m playing with the concept of “Manifest Destiny.” Manifest Destiny was an American Concept which claimed that the continent of America was a gift from God, and that western expansion was a destiny must be fulfilled by any means necessary. This zeitgeist led to many atrocities committed to the native peoples as the new Americans expanded westward to California.

I intent to connect this history to the new expansion into the digital world. In simpler terms my project is about sacrifice for progress. I intent to create some sort of metaphor wherein the user has to recall and then sacrifice memories to achieve some sort of transient and possibly unreachable goal.

At first I wanted to simply create a shooter wherein your enemies become platforms that you ascend to get to the top of the arena, where the enemies are 3d models of people and the objects your shoot are objects from your life. However, I’m trying to think of ways to incorporate the other technologies we are working with.

EEG sensor: Perhaps if I can get the brain sensor to recognize the brainwave of recollection I could have an experience where the user has to construct a staircase out of recalled objects.

Augmented Reality: I could make visiting the Augmented reality landmarks created by VM420 a requirement for progression. A user would then choose to take a virtual tour of the city to increase their score.

Idea 1: Manifest destiny/Journey to the west: Something that exhibits the themes of expansionism paralleling the exodus into the virtual world. The user would be required to sacrifice something to progress, or destroy something that already exists in order to expand.

VR reality journey to the west on the common. One side will have landmark moments in western expansion, and the other will have landmark moments form the history of augmented reality. When you look backwards there is text that says “In reality, you cannot return to the past. In VR you cannot escape it.” All the models will be broken looking from behind. On the right will be object with interviews about people’s feelings about technology and virtual reality.

Questions for interview:

Do you think it is the future? What potential downsides could there be? What gains could it bring to society?

Idea 2: technological Schizophrenia: The idea that augmented and virtual reality can cause a sort of schizophrenia where the user would lose touch with reality. I could slowly add augmented reality noises, images and even models until the user is not sure what is real. Finding a way for the user to “listen through the microphone of their phone would help blur the line between reality and VR. (Possibly tie this to the Indigenous idea that a lying is a form of madness, that those who lose touch with reality are to be pitied and helped, perhaps connecting the manifest destiny idea)

Idea 4: A mobile game in which the player occupies a circular, partitioned room with a tree in the center is confronted by roaming people tethered to lost items. The player must find corresponding objects to throw at them, freeing them and unlocking the next area. Each new area unlocked makes the tree grow bigger and break the ceiling. The controls would be the same as the memory palace, apart from a button for throwing objects and an aiming reticle. It is inspired by the Hindu cycle of Samara, and the how detachment from the past is a step toward enlightenment.